NEW DELHI: Work goes on, said Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, undaunted by CBI having named him in a coal allotment case FIR. And no, he doesn't think it's going to have any impact on his group's chances of getting a banking licence.

"As of now I am not worried about it... There is nothing wrong, so why should one worry?" Birla told reporters after a meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the first since the FIR naming Hindalco and Birla was filed.

Group company Aditya Birla Nuvo is among 26 entities that have applied for a bank licence.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said a decision on new licences will be taken by January.

So-called 'fit and proper' norms require that anyone seeking a bank licence be free of blemish as far as investigative agencies are concerned, although it isn't clear how strictly these standards will be applied.

Birla said he discussed the FIR with Chidambaram, but declined to reveal any details.

"Obviously I brought this up with the finance minister, but there are so many other things to talk about. So work goes on. That's not the only industry we are dealing with, we have so many other industries, so many other things to discuss with the FM," he said.

Asked for his opinion about the FIR, against which India Inc has vociferously protested, Birla refrained from making any comment. "I don't want to talk about this. How do you expect me to talk about it? There is nothing I want to say," he said.

Industry has criticised the FIR and warned the episode has undermined business sentiment and hit investor confidence.

Chidambaram didn't comment on his meeting with Birla.

CBI is investigating the allocation of coal blocks in 1993-2004 and 2006-09. It has alleged the government reversed its earlier decision to allot coal mines to Hindalco after Birla wrote letters and met then coal secretary PC Parakh.

The agency said the government showed "undue favours" to Hindalco, which led to a loss to the exchequer. Birla has been named in the FIR as an Aditya Birla Group representative. Hindalco is one of the group companies of the conglomerate.